And Oh Baby You're a Classic
by thelinksthatconnectus
Summary: After being assigned to raise a fake baby for health class, Mikasa Ackerman finds herself partnering up with Annie Leonheart. Neither are happy about the arrangement, and only Mikasa's the only one seems to actually care about their grade. However, Annie's heart isn't the only one changed as the project goes on. Mikasa can't get the other girl out of her head. High School AU
1. Chapter 1

Mikasa had thought the baby project was a myth, something made up to give teen movies an actual plot.

"You have got to be kidding me," she mumbled under her breath.

Judging by the growing piles of plastic baby dolls on their teacher's desk, however, it was real. Not a joke - as nice as their teacher was, she had never been the funniest. The words written one the dry erase board - "This project is worth thirty-five percent of your grade!" - certainly didn't help.

"Petra, are we seriously doing this?" Ymir called. The girl was bold, even in a way Mikasa herself wasn't.

Thanks for putting everyone's thoughts to words, Mikasa thought. She glanced over at the baby dolls. Though the plastic monstrosities were of varying shades, they looked to be all about the same size.

Those things are huge, Mikasa thought. How am I supposed to lug around eight-hundred page textbooks and those things at the same time?

"Ymir, I've told you countless times that you should refer to me by Mrs. Green rather than my first name. It's school policy and shows respect." She turned to face the rest of the room. "And yes, class, this is an assignment." She gestured towards the box, which she was still unpacking.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Green." Ymir sighed.

Mrs. Green smiled. "Just remember what I said and everything will be fine." She turned back towards the box.

"So how many plastic babies do you are in that box?" Ymir leaned forward and whispered, more to anyone who sat near her than to an exact person.

"I hope we're not raising twins." Krista replied.

"Hey, I'd raise as many kids as those moms in reality TV shows have if I could do it with you, Krista." Ymir grinned.

Krista's face turned bright red and Mikasa rolled her eyes. She was just barely able to hold back a sigh.

Great, she thought. Now our health class is going to turn into a soap opera."

"I was personally hoping that if we did do this project," Sasha commented, "then it would be with flour or eggs or something."

Ymir snorted. "You can't eat eggs or flour raw."

"I so can," Sasha retorted. "Raw eggs taste wonderful. And flour? Those can always be baked into cookies."

"I don't think you'd get an A if you turned your baby into cookies." Krista said.

"Yeah, that doesn't seem like responsible parenting." Ymir laughed.

"I could always just go buy a carton of eggs or another bag of flour. How would the teacher know the difference?"

Ymir's eyes widened. "That isn't a half bad idea. Instead, we get to carry around dolls. We're teenagers, not five years old!" Her voice rose near the end.

If this a soap opera, Mikasa thought, then why am I unable to change the channel?

Judging by the sea of frowning faces, no one else looked happy about the project.

Figures, Mikasa thought. She looked down to her notebook. She had written down and studied countless notes. Shouldn't those have been what kept her grade up instead of plastic dolls?

"Do you think this project is going to teach us the miracle of life?" Sasha asked.

"No, probably not," Ymir replied. "I'd much rather prefer a project that teaches us about where babies come from."

Krista's face and neck turned red. "Ymir, this isn't sixth grade health class. We're a little more educated on that stuff now and have to learn something new."

"Playing with dolls isn't anything new," Ymir replied.

Mikasa looked up to the clock. Had a mere twenty-five minutes passed? There was still an hour and five minutes left before class ended.

Seemingly having finally emptied the box, Ms. Green stood up and wiped off her hands. "Now class, I know that this might seem like a bit of a strange assignment." She paused, as if expecting a comment.

Too bad for her that Ymir already told them all to Sasha, Mikasa thought.

"When doing this project, you'll be able to see the struggles an ordinary parent faces while raising a child. It's a good thing that I've assigned partners for everyone!" She picked up her clipboard from her desk and looked over it for a moment. Her eyebrows dropped. "Well, almost everyone. Ms. Braus, since we are an oddly numbered class, I could not find a partner for you."

"What? But my dad always told me to never become a single parent in high school!"

Both Ymir and Krista burst out laughing.

"Just join another group," Ymir said. "Open relationships and threesomes are all over trashy supermarket magazines already. Besides, then you'll have two other people to dump the baby on!"

The two' s laughter probably could be heard in the algebra II room all the way across the hall.

Remind me again, Mikasa thought, why I'm required to pass this class to graduate.

"Oh no," Ms. Green replied, tightening her grip on her clip board. "This is an equal partner project. Both of you have to raise the baby equally; it makes for a healthier bond between the baby and both parents."

Jean, who sat near the front, raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Kirshtein?"

"Do you and your partner raise your baby equally?"

Ms. Green's eyes widened, the way that they always did whenever a student bothered to ask about her personal life. "Why yes, of course! Or at least we mostly do."

"What do you mean?" Jean asked.

"Well, Dr. Zoe really likes to spend time with little Kai when they get home from work. Sometimes I think that they're hogging the baby from me!" Ms. Green laughed. "Speaking of little Kai, who wants to see some pictures their mommy took?"

A few people in class, Mikasa included, raised their hands. In the end, seeing pictures of Ms. Green and her partner's baby was far more preferable than holding a cold, plastic baby doll. The longer that the ugly thing remained on Ms. Green's desk, the better.

Ms. Green opened her laptop and began typing.

"Well, if this project is secretly designed to make us not want children," Ymir said, leaning back in her chair, "then I wouldn't be the least bit surprised."

The room seemed to go silent after that, save for the clacking of keys and the clicks of Ms. Green's mouse. Mikasa half expected Ymir to make another snarky comment, but she remained silent, her eyes on Krista.

The silence was broken by a sudden, high pitched wail. Soon, others joined in.

Are those babies? Mikasa thought. Her hands were at her ears and her eyes were shut.

She opened her eyes but didn't take her hands off of her ears. Ms. Green was busy fretting over the dolls. Most of the other students were covering their ears. A few even had gotten out of their seat and hidden under their desk.

Of course it was the dolls, Mikasa thought, eyes locked on the cold plastic toys. Of all the assignments that we could have done, it had to be this.

They weren't even going to be studying child development for a month! There were two units the class still had to get through.

"Relax, kids," Ms. Green said. "It's just the dolls." She yelled to get over the wailing. "Look, just come grab a doll and start rocking it. Make the baby relax."

No one got up from their seat.

"Please class," Ms. Green continued. "I can't hold all these dolls." Her eyes dropped to the one doll in her hand, which never seemed to stop crying (though its hard plastic face still held a sculpted smile) no matter how much she rocked it.

Everyone remained in their seats.

Just great, Mikasa thought, looking to the clock. I'm going to be stuck listening to this for the rest of class.

"Can someone just grab a doll?" Ms. Green huffed. "This is an important assignment, and I expect both you and your partner to take it seriously."

Ymir raised her hand high in the air. Within moments, every set of eyes in the room, Mikasa's included, landed on her.

"Yes, Ymir?"

"If I go grab a doll then will you let me choose a doll?"

Ms. Green's face fell. She looked around the room. No one else moved or spoke. Her eyes turned back towards the doll. "Of course you can, Ymir."

Mikasa had always known that Ymir was fast; as one of the few other girls' varsity track members, she had to have been fast to get accepted by Coach Pixis. She easily could have broken a record when she raced from her desk in the back of the health class to the front of the room. She picked up a doll with deep brown skin, a close shade to her own, and quickly began to rock it in her arms. Within moments, it had silenced.

"Thank you," Ms. Green said, giving Ymir a small smile.

The class turned still once more.

"Well, now seems like the best time to assign partners. Go stand by yours so I'll know not to assign them with anyone else."

Ymir walked over to Krista. Once she was by her desk, she handed the doll over. "I just got back from taking a blood test, so I can now proudly say its yours!"

Mikasa snorted.

"Alright, listen," Ms. Green said. In one hand she rocked a doll and in the other she held a clip board. "I wrote down this list last night and based it on who I thought you could work with best. Don't complain about your partner because I'm not changing it."

Mikasa only half listened to her. The crying babies had become somewhat easier to ignore. The clock kept ticking on.

"Hannah and Fritz," Ms. Green said. "Marco and Jean, Connie and Armin..." After a long list of names, Ms. Green finally reached Mikasa's name. "... and Annie Leonheart."

Mikasa jerked up from her seat. Her eyes turned to the very back of the room, where the cold eyed blond shot daggers at her.

I have to work with her? Mikasa thought. Now my grade really will be in the toilet.

"What about me?" Sasha called. "You never said mine, Ms. Green."

"Oh, Sasha, since this is an oddly numbered class I ended up having to put you in this alone."

"She could partner up with us!" Ymir called. "Threesomes are all the rage these days!"

Mikasa could only half listen to the other conversations in the room. It seemed as if she and Annie would never stop glaring at each other.

"Well, class, come grab your babies." Ms. Green said.

Annie and Mikasa stared at each other a few moments longer before Mikasa finally turned away. With heavy steps, she walked to the front of the room and grabbed one of the dolls. It had light brown skin, dark hair, and a facial shape similar to Mikasa's.

"Oh, Mikasa, your baby is so cute!" Sasha held her own doll tight in her hands. It had bright blue eyes and a big mouth opened wide.

"She gets her looks from my side." Mikasa said. She glanced back towards the back of the room. Even from the distance between them, the two girls again glared at each other. Annie hadn't even bothered to stand up.

Their staring - or, rather, glaring - contest was broken up by a loud pounding on the doors. Sasha squeaked, almost jumped a foot into the air, and dropped her baby doll onto the floor. Within moments, the robotic howling returned, again filling the room.


	2. Chapter 2

"Mr. Smith," Ms. Green said, stepping aside to let him look into the room. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

Mr. Smith's hard expression did not change. Though he was only about thirty (if the cake that some freshman had made him a year before actually had an accurate number of candles on it), he looked to be at least ten years older, with a growing number of wrinkles around his eyes, chin, and cheeks. His blond hair always seemed to have a few more grey sprigs in it than it did the day before, save for when he would come back to school some days with his hair shorter than before. "I came to see what was going on." He cleared his throat, the sound echoing through the room. "My students were having trouble focusing. You're only a few doors down from me, and apparently that is enough space to hear what sounds like a person dying!"

"Not a person dying, Mr. Smith," Connie broke in, standing up from his desk and holding up his doll. By him sat Armin, whose face quickly became buried in his health textbook. "It's the miracle of life!"

The doll made a robotic giggling sound, as if it wanted to agree with him.

Mr. Smith nearly narrowed his eyebrows. He eyed each student and their dolls, though he watched some students longer than others.

"I apologize for the noise," Ms. Green said. "I know that noise can interrupt on class time, but I promise that we have everything under control now." Her words came out a bit too fast and her smile was a bit too wide.

Mr. Smith wrinkled his nose. "Just put those things in your locker before you come to my pre-calculus class, alright?"

A few students, Mikasa included, nodded.

Now I actually have a reason to dump this thing on Annie, she thought. She's taking Algebra II this year with Mrs. Phelps.

For the first time that period, she smiled.

* * *

"I think you're looking at this the wrong way," Sasha said. She held her doll tightly in her arms, her eyes never leaving it.

"How am I looking at this the wrong way? You and I both know that this project is ridiculous." Mikasa crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes wondered over to her doll, who lay still on Sasha's couch.

"It's better than having to cram for a test and get cramps in your hands from writing notes all the time."

"This thing has to be cared for all the time! I haven't been able to find an off switch, which means that thing could wake me up in the middle of the night." Mikasa huffed. "Ugh, no wonder Annie all but raced out of school today."

At least there would be a track meeting the next day. If worse came to worst, then Mikasa would just have to slip the ugly thing into Annie's backpack.

"So you're saying that you'd rather have a test over this stuff?"

"If it meant that I didn't have to work with Annie!" Mikasa shook her head. "You wouldn't understand, Sasha. You got lucky on this project and get to work alone."

"I figured that I would just recruit my dad and Connie for help. He's always wanted to be an uncle."

"I'm pretty sure that he and Armin already have their hands full." Mikasa sighed. She reached forward and grabbed a cracker from the plate that Sasha had set out earlier. Though the plate was almost halfway finished and covered in crumbs, this was the first one that Mikasa had actually bothered to sit down and eat. "I actually went to our teacher after class to see if I could get switched to working with you."

Sasha looked up from her doll and smiled. "Oh, Mikasa, that's so sweet of you. And as much as I'd like the help, I understand why Ms. Green would say no."

"I never said that she said no!"

Sasha smirked. "Well, you aren't working with me now, so she clearly said no."

Mikasa shook her head. "If it had at least been with someone who wasn't Annie then I would probably be a bit more okay with it. I don't like too many people in our health class, but I don't hate most of them either."

Sasha raised an eyebrow and her jaw dropped. "You actually hate Annie Leonhardt?"

Mikasa nodded.

"Like hate, hate?"

"Yes, Sasha."

"Oh, I didn't know." She went silent. "I know she can be a frustrating partner to work with; we had to a history project together once and you guess who did ninety percent of the work." Sasha absently moved her doll's arms up and down. "I just figured that you guys might have actually been able to work something out, or at least I hoped that you could."

Mikasa's frown deepened. "You don't need to worry about us, Sasha."

The other girl sighed. "I know." She held her doll up. "I already have my hands full, right?"

Mikasa chuckled. "Yes, you do." Mikasa grabbed a few more crackers.

"So, what did you name your baby?"

"Huh?"

"You know, name your baby," Sasha replied. She held her doll up high in the air like she was that monkey from The Lion King. "I named my doll Arthur Jr. Isn't she the cutest?"

"Arthur Jr.?" Mikasa raised an eyebrow.

"I named her after my dad," Sasha replied, holding the doll close. "Maybe I can call up our synagogue's rabbi and have them give her a Hebrew name too." She looked back to Mikasa. "So, what did you name yours?"

"Uh," Mikasa replied, looking back to where the doll still lay on Sasha's couch. "Does Stinker count as a name?"

Sasha pouted. "Of course not!" Her usual smile returned. "Hey, if Annie doesn't care about the doll then you have free reign to call her Mikasa Jr. It's not like Annie would try to stop you."

"I think I'd want to give them a name a little more original than Mikasa Jr." Mikasa looked over to the doll. "Besides, what does it need a name for?"

"The same reason that you and I need names," Sasha replied, "so that we can have something to call each other and differentiate everyone."

"I am pretty sure that no one is going to mistake their doll for mine." Though the dolls had been varying in skin tones, Mikasa had grabbed the only one that resembled her. "And if they do, I won't be the least bit mad if they take it off of my hands."

Sasha snorted. "Oh come on, you've got to at least have a nickname for them. You have to at least pretend to care for Ms. Green."

"Okay, okay," Mikasa replied. "I'll call my baby some corny nickname."

"Which one?"

Mikasa paused. Her parents could be ridiculous sometimes, especially on anniversaries. "I don't think any of my parent's nicknames could quite work on this. How about we just call it BB and be done?"

Sasha sighed. "I suppose I can't force you to name it anything. Though I must say, BB isn't any more original than Mikasa Jr." Sasha shrugged. "Eh, at least little Arthur Jr. here has a friend." She grabbed the other doll from the couch and then placed both dolls on the carpeted floor, where they still, their cold, painted plastic eyes staring into the others.

I can't believe that I played with these things as a kid, Mikasa thought. She had been given a few by her aunt when she was about five or so as a birthday gift. No wonder I was always more interested in my stuffed animals.

"Enough babies," Sasha said, "at least until they start to cry. We have bigger issues to tackle, like our math homework." Sasha stood up and walked over to where her backpack sat. "So, do you have the question to answer ten?"

Mikasa rolled her eyes. "Are you seriously expecting me to suddenly be a math genius? You and I both know perfectly well that I get a B at most in it."

"I know," Sasha replied. "That doesn't mean that I still can't hope that you were able to figure out what the problem was asking! I've read and reread it countless times and still can't figure it out!"

Mikasa got her own textbook from her backpack. Her pre-calculus book might as well have been written in German; there was no way that she was going to understand more than a few words of it (let alone numbers).

"Let's just try and get stuff done," Mikasa said.

Save for their chatting and math discussion, Sasha's living room turned quiet after the two stopped fussing over the dolls. It was tranquil, a joy filling Mikasa that she never would have expected, especially not when she had pre-calc homework to do.

"Can you call Armin and ask him about this?" Sasha asked. By then, she had placed her textbook down and instead pulled out her English notes to study for an upcoming vocabulary quiz.

"I think he's going to start charging me for his services," Mikasa replied. "I'm pretty sure that he won't accept my life savings of two dollars and thirty-seven cents and pocket lint."

Even Mikasa gave up on question ten, turning instead to other homework. Sometimes the two would quiz each other if they were in the same classes, and Sasha had Mikasa read off some vocabulary and names of historical figures to her.

The two continued like that for a while, at least until the sound of the door opening filled Sasha's small house.

"Dad!" Sasha called. She eagerly grabbed her doll and stood up, running for the door. "Guess who finally got that grandchild you've always wanted? Arthur Jr., say hello to Zaydee!"

"Zaydee?" Mr. Braus entered the room and took off his jacket. "Now what's this?"

"A project that me and Mikasa are doing in our health class," Sasha replied. "We're supposed to raise fake babies." She turned back towards where Mikasa sat; by then Mikasa had closed her textbooks and notes and started watching the other two. "Come and show my dad little BB!"

Mikasa picked up the doll and walked towards the entrance of the house. "This is BB," she replied. Her voice lowered the longer that she spoke.

"Mikasa isn't very excited about it." Sasha held it up. "I personally think that it has the chance to be a lot of fun!"

Her father chuckled. "It just might," he replied. His voice was low and rumbled, making him sound a bit like the cowboys from old TVs. Like his daughter, he also had a deep laugh that seemed to fill the room, and matching colored eyes and the same shade of thick, dark hair. He turned to Mikasa. "I'm glad to see that you two came over to study; it's always nice when Sasha brings friends over. Well, except for that Connie kid; you never know what he'll do next."

Mikasa snorted and Sasha turned red.

"Dad, he isn't that big of a troublemaker."

"She's right," Mikasa added. "Whatever prank he won't pull, Sasha will!"

Both Mikasa and Mr. Braus laughed.

"Though I must decline, sir," she said. "At least not tonight. I need to get home soon, anyway." Sasha's family certainly wasn't the richest, and there seemed to be more days where the fridge was closer to empty than full. At most, Mikasa ate a few snacks when she was at Sasha's, nothing more and nothing less.

"Awww," Sasha said.

"I understand," Mr. Braus replied. "Though I will at least have one new guest at the dinner table tonight." He eyed the doll once again. "You said that this was for your health class, correct?"

Sasha nodded.

"Well, I suppose that they could always be teaching you worse." He walked forward. "Welcome to the family, little baby. Arthur Jr., isn't it?"

Sasha nodded.

"What a beautiful name," her father replied. "I couldn't have picked a better one myself."

* * *

Things had been going alright, or at least as close to alright as these things could be at that time. That was until Mikasa went over some bumps in the road while riding her bike home and the baby in her backpack started crying. Then she had to pull over, pull the ugly doll out of her bag, and rock it until it stopped crying. By the time she got home, the sun was down and her legs ached.

"Mikasa," her mother said once she entered the house, looking up from the pot that she was stirring. "I know that you texted me that you would be a little late, but I got worried for you. Did anything happen while you were out?"

"Yes," Mikasa replied, "a baby did."

"A what?" Her mother raised an eyebrow.

Mikasa sighed and pulled the doll from her bag. "I mean this plastic monstrosity that I have to look after for health class."

Her mother wrinkled her nose. "You have to take care of that?"

Mikasa nodded. "Considering you know a two or thing about babies, maybe you could look after it."

The other woman snorted. "Not in your dreams, dear. I changed diapers for you and Eren, and that's quite enough for me."

As if appearing because his name was mentioned, Eren entered the room. His eyes widened when he saw the bundle in Mikasa's hands, and quickly ran up to it.

"I know that Armin mentioned this, but I thought that he was joking." Eren pulled the doll from Mikasa's arms so roughly that she was surprised it didn't suddenly burst into fake tears. "Man, this project looks awful. It's a good thing that I just opted for an extra semester of gym."

"I wish I had now," Mikasa replied, taking the doll from him. As much as she wanted to get rid of it, giving it to her brother seemed like too much of a risk.

"So did you adopt him like we did you?" Her mother asked.

"Yes, if adoption is picking it from a pile of robot dolls."

"I like it," Eren said.

"Congratulations, Mister Uncle," Mikasa replied.

"So does this mean that you're really working with Annie?"

Mikasa bit her lip.

"Oh, Mikasa, I thought Armin might have been joking about that too." He looked over her face again, his eyes widening. "Is it true? Cause she helped me with a history project once and it didn't turn out that well."

Mikasa nodded. "Though I doubt that she'll actually do much for little BB."

"BB?" Mikasa's mother asked.

"It seemed a bit more original than just calling it Mikasa Jr."

"Hey," Eren broke in, "I think Eren Jr. would have been a fabulous name!"

"Take it for yourself," Mikasa said, "and you can call it whatever you want."

* * *

Mikasa stared at the piece of paper in her hands. Eren had given it to her after dinner. Dinner had been good that night, with some of Carla's best soup, and everyone seemed to have a funny story to tell. It was always fun to have something to laugh about during dinner.

Now, she felt even worse than she had earlier.

He only meant to help, Mikasa thought. Just so that you could keep contact with Annie.

Still, it wasn't as if she actually wanted to call her.

Mikasa looked over to the doll, which lay on her desk. After dinner, she had learned the wonders of its fake poop; now, it wore a poorly wrapped together paper towel instead of a fake cloth diaper.

Which is the lesser of two evils? Mikasa thought, looking from the paper to the doll. Her other hand was in her pocket, wrapped around her cell phone.

In the end, she dialed Annie's cell. Despite all of her wishes, Annie picked up.

"Who is it?" Annie asked in her gruff voice.

"Uh, hi?" Mikasa froze. This wasn't a friendly phone call; this was business! "Uh, hey, Annie, it's me, Mikasa. Eren loaned me your number. I was hoping that we could discuss our health class project together."


	3. Chapter 3

"What about it?"

For a moment, Mikasa was unable to respond. She could only focus on two things - the fact that her phone somehow hadn't managed to slip from her hand and the fact that Annie sounded less annoyed than usual. She knew Annie, at least enough about her from what she would show the world. Everytime she had seen her, whether she was alone or with two boys who appeared to be her friends, she always had a heavy frown on her face. Her voice was low most of the time, and rose higher (and filled with annoyance) the longer that she talked to a teacher. Considering how she had spoken with teachers regularly in the past, never losing that annoyed tone in her voice or keeping herself from glaring, then Mikasa must have done something right.

At least she hoped she did. Her stomach flipped inside of her chest.

Just relax, she told herself. This is just Annie, a girl who is in my class. What do I have to be afraid of?

Well, if Mikasa had to be honest with herself, everything. Or at least her grade.

"You know how we're assigned to raise that fake baby?"

Annie grunted. "Of course. I was there in class when it was assigned, you know."

Mikasa scowled; there was the regular Annie. Mikasa almost responded, but stopped herself, pausing and taking a few quick breaths before she spoke again. "Look, Annie," Mikasa said, 'this project is going to really have an effect on both of our grades. I just wanted to call you and discuss ways that we could work together."

Annie was the one who was silent for a few moments that time. "What do you want me to do about it?" Annie sighed at the end.

"Well, just stuff," Mikasa said.

Stuff? she thought.

"Just your stuff for the project," Mikasa said. "You know, look after the kid, watch it, or put it in a corner of your room and throw pillows at it until it stops crying. I just can't be expected to always look after it. Okay?" Her last few words came out in a rush. "So, uh, will that work for you?"

"Whatever," Annie responded. "Just give me the ugly doll sometime tomorrow and I'll look after it."

"Okay," Mikasa replied. "Deal."

There was silence for a moment, save for some background noise that Mikasa couldn't quite make out. It sounded a bit like furniture, or something else heavy, was being moved.

"Bye," Annie finally said.

"Bye," Mikasa replied. Quickly, she ended the call and shut her phone. It was only when the call was over that she was able to really take in a few deep breaths from her mouth before having time to exhale.

It's over, Mikasa thought. That phone call is finally over.

* * *

Mikasa had originally planned to give the doll to Annie around lunch or after track practice. Instead, eyes still blurry and heavy, she walked towards Annie's locker. The doll felt as though it weighed a thousand pounds in her hands. Her backpack weighed four times that amount, with homework that she had just barely bothered to finish the night before.

And all for what? Mikasa thought. I stayed up late, did all that work, and I didn't even get to sleep?

She could still hear the doll's sudden crying ringing through her ears, breaking through the few blurry, quick dreams that she had been having and forcing her awake. Mikasa had jolted awake and all but rushed to the doll. At the time, her brain had been only half on, and she had fumbled through the dark in search of the awful doll.

Luckily, it hadn't taken that long to get the doll to relax. Perhaps the robot knew it was doing (and with her luck, the school probably had reduced the amount of money the art classes got just so they could buy sentient baby dolls), and relaxed only when it got what it wanted. In the end, it was Mikasa staying awake and waiting for the baby doll, now turned quiet, to cry again that made her stay up so late. When her mother awoke her for school the next morning, she had just barely fallen asleep a few hours before.

I'm not going to miss you when you're gone, Mikasa thought, looking over the doll.

The bell hadn't rang yet, so most students either hadn't arrived yet or were eating breakfast in the cafeteria or hanging out in the library or gym. Mikasa had seen Annie at her locker a few times before school started a few times, and could only hope that today she would see her again. Any extra time spent with the doll seemed to only further drain her energy.

Perhaps things were going to change for the better, as Annie was standing at her locker. Mikasa had passed her while she was getting her books a few time, so it was only her memory that kept her from daring to text her and ask what her locker number was.

"Hey," Mikasa said.

Annie merely grunted in reply. Her face was buried in her locker, her entire back side facing towards Mikasa. Her blond ponytail bobbed as she moved, grabbing and rearranging her books.

"I brought the doll."

What, Mikasa thought once the words were out of her mouth, makes me always say the most obvious things around Annie?

"Just lay it on the ground," Annie replied. "I think I'll stick that thing inside here if I can."

"What if it starts to cry?"

"As if that's my problem."

Mikasa bit her lip. If the doll started screaming and a teacher investigated it, there would surely be trouble. Someone would surely mistake it for a real baby, the cries were just a bit more real than robotic. Even if she didn't get suspended for scaring a teacher, there was still a chance that both Annie and Mikasa could have gotten a bad grade.

Word from around school always seemed to reach Ms. Green, after all.

"I think you should actually carry this around."

Annie sighed. "What does it matter to you, Ackerman?"

Mikasa clenched her fist. "It's our project, and I think that we should actually get a good grade on it."

"I think that too," Annie replied. "I just don't want to have to carry around a freaking doll to get an A."

"I'm pretty sure that's how you get one." Mikasa's voice rose the longer that she spoke. "Look, we agreed last night that it was your turn to look after the doll."

"Then I guess that it'll be your turn tomorrow," Annie replied. She pulled some books from her locker and suddenly turned around. Though Mikasa was nearly a full foot in height above her, Annie's cold eyes immediately locked on Mikasa's own. Her gaze, so hard and as cold as the water her blue eyes resembled, made Mikasa freeze. For a moment, she almost felt as if she were shrinking, and Annie was slowly growing larger and larger.

Annie's glare lessened however. Within a moment, Mikasa was back to normal, staring down at the smaller girl.

"So are you going to hand it to me?"

Mikasa held the doll out.

Annie took it, looked over it, and then placed it on top of her books before holding it to her chest. The doll's head hit what surely could not have been a comfortable spot.

"So," Mikasa said, "you've decided on breastfeeding our little BB?"

Annie's eyes widened and she looked down at the doll, whose head looked as if it were trying to squish her entire left breast.

Had Sasha been around, she surely would have snickered. Mikasa had never been the joking type, at least not around people she hardly knew (health project partners or not, Annie was just Annie). The words, however, had seemed to come out of nowhere.

"You're good enough to be on Saturday Night Live," Annie replied. Her voice was as dry as ever, and she merely moved the doll up until its head touched her shoulder. "And what were you saying near the end? Little something?"

"BB," Mikasa replied. "That's what I've decided to name the doll. Sasha suggested I do Mikasa Jr. instead."

Annie rolled her eyes. "You actually think this thing needs a name?" She shook her head. With her foot, she slammed her locker shut and started walking down the hallway. "Just remember, this is a daily thing. Tomorrow morning you get this ugly thing back!"

Before Mikasa could reply, the bell rang and Annie quickened her pace. Students rushed down the hall. Now that they were finally allowed to go to their lockers, the other students came out in waves. With Annie's short stature and the constant influx of moving students, she and the doll were quickly swallowed up and lost in a sea of faces.

* * *

Mikasa sighed. Good times never seemed to last.

Of course she had to arrange it to where I got the doll on the weekend, Mikasa thought. She looked at the doll, who stared back at her with cold plastic eyes. It giggled, one of the random noises inset into whatever made the doll make sounds.

The day before had been eventful, yet peaceful. Mikasa had done an oral book report, taken more notes than her hand would have liked, and she'd practiced even harder than usual at track practice. Some coffee had gotten her to wake up after her near sleepless night, and the sleep she'd had the night before had one of the best sleeps that she'd had in years.

And now it's over, Mikasa thought, her glare hardening on the doll. It was inescapable, a monster that followed her everywhere. There had to be some sort of law against this thing, something that Mikasa could go to court and sue over. There just had to be.

Annie had met her at her locker the next afternoon; all day she had known it was coming, her stomach doing flip flops during most of her class periods. But it wasn't until the end of the day that Annie came up and wordlessly handed her the doll, not until Mikasa's chest had finally lightened and the prospect of a weekend without the doll shone before her.

A whole weekend away from the ugly thing - it had seemed like a dream come true, a gift from the heavens.

For the first time in her life, Mikasa wasn't happy about it being three-o-clock on a Friday afternoon.

"Hey, Mikasa," Sasha said.

Mikasa broke her gaze away from the doll and looked over to Sasha. "Oh, sorry, I didn't notice you. I was too busy..." She paused. What was the right word to describe having this doll? All these years of English class and she couldn't even think up a good adjective. "Well, you know."

Sasha nodded. Her own doll was held in an old baby carrier, one of those that could be strapped to a person's shoulder and hold the doll to a person's chest or back. It had once held Sasha herself if her friends words to be considered true. Mikasa was sure that they were. As nice of a man as Mr. Braus was, she had to wonder why he kept so much useless old stuff in his basement.

"So are you ready to go to my house?" Sasha asked. "I know the other people aren't coming until around five or so, but I figured we could just hang out until then. Is that okay with you?"

Mikasa nodded. "Eren and Armin told me at lunch that they would still be coming, but they might be a few minutes late."

"Oh, that's fine. I don't mind waiting a few extra minutes." Sasha smiled. "In fact, I invited a few people of my own."

Mikasa nodded. Sasha went on, talking about some of the board games they would be playing, old and new, but only half listened. Some of the names Sasha said she didn't even recognize.

Soon enough, she was again glaring down at the doll still in her hands.


	4. Chapter 4

Bags of chips, assorted chocolate bars, and bowls full of cheese sauce and salsa were laid out on the table. The movie that Mikasa and Sasha were watching was only halfway through, and it looked as though it would be a while before anyone else showed up.

Mikasa grabbed a nacho chip and dipped it into the cheese before popping it into her mouth. It made a satisfying crunch as it broke apart; she was just barely watching the movie. If Sasha asked what she thought, she could say a few things about it - there were aliens, some people shot laser guns, and... That one main girl was named Jan or something, right? Jenny? Janice?

Oh, what did it matter? Sasha looked to be too busy enjoying the food to care about what was happening on the screen either. In her one hand were a few Cheetos and in the other was her doll.

"It's a shame that little Arthur Jr. is too young to eat solid foods," Sasha said, patting the doll's head. She had dressed it in a baby dress, and judging by the slightly worn look she had worn it herself when she was younger. It was a bit too big for the doll, the skirt going down past its plastic feet.

"Sasha," Mikasa said, reaching her hand out and putting it into the chip bag again. "That is a doll. It doesn't even have a digestive system."

Sasha huffed. She tried to cross her arms over each other, but it was hard to do so without knocking her precious doll over, so she merely put one hand over her chest, the one still holding Cheetos. Mikasa had to keep herself from pulling out her phone and snapping a picture of it.

"Oh, don't give me that look," Mikasa said, barely able to hold back a smirk. "You know that it's true."

"Well the babies have weird noise implants or whatever," Sasha said. "If they can cry then maybe they can digest food. Or at least milk or formula or water whatever."

"Ugh," Mikasa replied. "Even if it had a digestive system, I am pretty sure that its stomach would still be made of plastic." Mikasa pinched her nose. "Besides, if that thing did have a digestive system, it would probably stink. It's bad enough that we have to change fake diapers to make it stop crying, even when the diapers never actually get dirty."

Mikasa's eyes drifted back towards the TV. Her own doll sat lying on the floor next to her backpack. The doll had yet to have made a sound since they left school, and seemed comfortable laying on the floor.

"Tonight is going to be so fun," Sasha said. As she spoke, bits of food fell from her mouth; Mikasa had to look away from her. It was bad enough that earlier the two had been talking about a doll's possible digestive system. Weren't dolls bad enough already?

"I definitely need a good night. Is it just me, or is school secretly trying to destroy us?"

Sasha snickered. "Finally cracked the secret code, eh?"

"I'm serious. Making us study for a million tests, classes lasting a million hours, and making us raise fake babies? Do teachers or the school board hate us?"

Sasha shrugged. "For all we know, they probably do."

The two both laughed.

Mikasa leaned further into the couch, letting her shoulders relax. Well, school wait a little while. Right then, Mikasa had other things to focus on.

"Come on, Janice," the blond guy on the TV screen spoke, motioning her to come forward.

So that's her name, Mikasa thought.

Aliens and humans fought for a while, Mikasa learned Janice's name, and never heard anyone speak the blond guy's name again.

What's so important about this guy? Mikasa thought.

Perhaps the reason she hadn't been so interested in the movie earlier was how slow the beginning was. But it had finally decided to forgo a plot altogether - something the movie had never really made, and more just threw sentences, characters, and ideas together before putting everything on DVD - and just show action scenes. Even Sasha, who Mikasa watched from the corner of her eyes, and finally taken her hand off of her doll and had clasped both of her hands together; Sasha's eyes were wide and locked on the screen, as if she couldn't look away for even a mere moment.

Glad to see someone's acting half normal, Mikasa thought. Though, if she were going to really act normal, she would at least be grabbing herself some chips.

The two continued watching the movie; Mikasa's eyes barely lef the screen, save for when she reached out and grabbed some more chips. The rustling of her hand in the bag and the sound of her chewing was the only other sound besides the characters shouting at each other on screen and the sound of ray guns firing.

At least until the baby started bawling.

Mikasa shot out of the chair, eyes wide and locking on Sasha's doll. Sasha paused the TV and quickly grabbed the doll and began to rock it, all while still holding the TV remote.

"Uh, Mikasa," Sasha said after a few moments of intense rocking later, "my baby isn't the one crying. Little Arthur Jr. is doing just fine."

Mikasa stiffened, her eyes turning towards the doll on the floor. "I'll get it."

"Okay," Sasha replied, shooting Mikasa a weak smile. She still held her doll in her arms. "You go deal with little BB. Don't worry, I'll only start playing the movie again once you get back."

Mikasa walked over to her backpack and picked the doll up from the floor before heading to the Braus's small bathroom. Perhaps she could calm the doll down there and find something to help deal with it. Maybe she could stick a Q-Tip in the small opening of its lips and turn it into a makeshift pacifier. If that didn't work, then maybe she could rip off the diaper. Heck, she could probably get Sasha to snap a picture of that to show her teacher so she could look as if she actually care.

"Who died and put you in charge?" Mikasa asked, using the same dry, hard tone that her mother used whenever she said the phrase - mostly to Eren whenever he got too bossy.

I don't even sound like Carla, Mikasa thought.

Another thing to add to her list of "Reasons I Should Not Be Raising A Baby, Fake Or Not: A List By Mikasa Ackerman" later.

She rocked the baby as Sasha had, though slightly slower and held the doll to her chest like the mothers on TV shows always did. After a few moments, the baby's cries began to lower and slow.

Well, Mikasa thought, either it's starting to calm down or I'm accidentally, and quite slowly, killing it. That would be just my luck.

Mikasa jolted at the sudden knocking sound from a few rooms over.

The walls here are too thin, Mikasa thought.

"I'm coming!" Sasha called. Her footsteps filled the house as she ran to the door.

I guess people are coming early, Mikasa thought. Maybe they can watch the movie with us.

Sasha had invited a few people, friends such as Ymir and Krista, Connie, Jean (though Sasha had mentioned that he might not have been able to make it), and a few other people.

"They might not come though," Sasha had said. "They told me that they couldn't make any promises."

Perhaps Mikasa should have asked just who these people were. When Sasha opened the door and greeted the people outside, she recognized all three voices immediately. Not just Reiner and Bertoldt, but...

Annie, Mikasa thought, tightening her grip on the now silent doll. She gritted her teeth. What is she doing here?

* * *

Mikasa absently looked over the Monopoly piece in her hand. They had pulled the game out of its box nearly fifteen minutes before and they still hadn't started.

"Who else is excited?" Sasha asked, still in her far too happy to be normal attitude. Her smile was so wide that it looked as if she were trying to show off her entire set of teeth.

"What does it look like?" Annie replied. She sat across from Mikasa, her cold blue eyes locked on the game board. She had chosen the metal car as her game piece, whereas Mikasa had chosen the small, shiny Scottie dog. Unlike Mikasa's piece, Annie's car sat on the game board, where it had yet to move.

"Hey, I think this will be fun!" Krista broke in. A bright smile, a real one (that wasn't nearly as wide as Sasha's), crossed over her pale face.

"Twister was fun," Ymir said.

"Are you kidding me?" Annie said. "We looked like the girls on comic book covers while we were playing that. None of us could move our body like the game instructed!" Her eyes narrowed. "Besides, I distinctly remember that you were the first person out."

Ymir rolled her eyes. She moved closer to Krista, who already sat beside her, and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Hey, maybe I like seeing my girlfriend posed like she's a pretzel."

Krista's cheeks turned bright red, yet she giggled all the same.

Who forgot to tell me that my life was a Disney Channel drama? Mikasa thought.

Whatever fun she and Sasha had experienced before was gone, having vanished just when the two were actually starting to let loose. And it was all that awful doll and Annie's faults.

No wonder Reiner and Bertoldt left early. Mikasa thought.

She bit a lip. She could always come up with a reason to leave the gathering, claim her parents or Eren needed her.

But...

But Sasha had been ecstatic about the upcoming game night, talking about it every day that week during lunch.

Just stay a little longer, she thought. At least try and play a little Monopoly.

"So who wants to count out the money?" Sasha asked. She waved the stack of fake, bright purple money clutched tightly in her hand.

"I'll get it," Krista said.

"Oh, what does it matter?" Annie said. She crossed her arms over her chest. "No one actually wants to play."

A few glares, Mikasa's included, landed on her.

"You guys get the fake cash ready," Mikasa said, suddenly standing up. If this was what her parents had meant when they had mentioned mood and hormone related impulses, then they probably should have explained it a little more in depth. "I need to go get something from my car."

It wouldn't be leaving Sasha for the entire night, just a few minutes to relax, and there was actual stuff that she wanted to get.

"Uh, Mikasa," Sasha said. "Remember, I drove you over here tonight?"

Mikasa froze, looking down at the group of girls sitting below her. "Oh, I, uh-"

"Just admit it," Annie blurted out, pointing to her. "No one's going to call the cops on you, so just go out and take a drag with Connie. We don't need to listen to your ridiculous excuses."

Mikasa froze. "Oh, uh, yeah... I'm uh, gonna go smoke."

Annie rolled her eyes. Ymir's eyes were a little wide. Sasha just played with her game piece.

Mikasa found Connie in Sasha's backyard. Smoke rose from the cigarette between his teeth and a metal lighter, closed and unlit, was held in his fist.

"Hey, Mikasa," Connie said, waving his free hand. The cigarette fell from his lips, and he just barely caught it before it hit the ground. "Nice save, huh?"

Mikasa didn't reply, just looked above. The night was a bit chilly, and she pulled her red scarf up further around her neck.

Connie pulled a pack of Camels out from his back pocket and held it out to her. "Want one?"

She shook her head. "I actually came out here to clear my head."

He shrugged. "Okay, cool. You aren't going to lecture me like other people like to do whenever they see me doing this, right?"

"I don't know," Mikasa replied. "I just might have to prove that I passed my nicotine facts test from the last grading period."

Connie snorted.

Though Mikasa wasn't as close to him as Sasha was, she had known him for a while. He was one of Armin's friends and his gym buddy, and Eren had partenered up with him in a few classes before.

"Want to go in and play Monopoly for me?" Mikasa asked.

"It's starting soon?" Connie's eyes widened. He crushed his cigerette between his hands and raced for the door. "Thanks for letting me know!"

Well, Mikasa thought as she watched the boy rush through the untrimmed grass towards Sasha's back door, that answered my questions.

Once the door shut behind him, Mikasa's eyes turned back towards the sky. It was a cold night, but a pretty one. The stars shone brighter than usual, and she could see hundreds of them dotting the sky. When she had been little, when she had just been a baby herself, she had believed that the sky was really someone's face and the stars were the person's freckles. The moon had either been a dimple or gigantic zit - she couldn't remember all the exacts.

The back door suddenly opened again. Mikasa's eyes widened.

"Annie?"

"Hey, Ackerman," the other girl replied. She leaned against the door, closing it with her back, and put her foot up against it. From her hoodie pocket she pulled out a cigerette box. "I figured that I'd see you out here." Her eyes narrowed. "Sasha wanted me to talk to you."

"Huh?"

Annie shrugged. "I'm sure that you know how Potato Girl acts. You're always around her."

"Potato Girl?"

"You haven't ever heard her been called that before?" Annie sighed. "Oh, what does it matter? We didn't come to discuss Bread Braus's nickname."

"Bread Braus?"

Annie raised her hands up, one still holding her unlit cigarette, as if asking for peace. "Hey, I'm just repeating the names. I never said that I actually made those up."

"What do you want?" Mikasa's eyes narrowed.

"Sasha just came to ask us to make a truce," she said.

"Huh?"

"She said we needed to stop hating each other, that we don't have any reason to be mad and hate each other. Apparently acquaintances can't hate each others guts."

"What?"

"She wants us to get over this and work together. The girl ratted me on it for a couple minutes after we first arrived, when you were dealing with the baby. She was pretty loud in the front yard, as if she wanted her entire neighborhood to hear us." She held her cigarette out. "So I guess I better at least try and listen to her. You should have heard some of the stuff she told me, said she'd make me regret ever working with you if I didn't, as she put, act civil." She raised an eyebrow. "So how about it?"

"What?" Mikasa cocked her head to the side. "You're just going to do whatever Sasha says?" Annie barely even listened to what the teachers said.

Annie's usual scowl returned. "She had her reasons for saying it." Her eyes narrowed. "Though, now that I think about it, you hardly seem like the person worth helping. I can't believe she invited me over just so she could yell at me and then make me fight with you." She shook her head. "It was as if she wanted to waste my time." She was gone within moments, having turned and opened the door.

Her cigarette had never been lit, and within moments the night returned to its quiet calm from before. A gentle breeze ruffled Mikasa's hair, and her eyes again returned to the stars high above.

* * *

"Hey, Sasha," Mikasa said as she grabbed her backpack.

"What?" Sasha asked. Though she had long since put the snacks away (though the abandoned Monopoly board still sat on the floor, with Krista still in the lead with the most hotels), there was a bit of dried yellow cheese on the side of her lips. "Is something wrong, Mikasa?"

"I can't find my doll. If I lose the ugly thing then I'm sure to get an F in health."

"Oh, that?" Sasha waved her hand. Her car keys jingled in her hand. "Don't worry about that. I saw Annie take it home with her an hour and a half ago."


	5. Chapter 5

Mikasa looked up from the book that she had been reading, to her phone. It sat still and unmoving on her bed, its screen absently reflecting part of her face as she looked down upon it. Picking it up, she turned it on to check for any new alerts. Though she usually felt the vibration it made when a new text was received, there was always a chance that she had missed it. After all, it had happened before.

After a simple click of the on button, she saw her fears were for nothing. Once again, all she saw was her phone's background, clock, and a distinct lack of new messages. For a few moments, she stared down at her phone, as if willing it to alert her. However, it remained unchanged until, at last, the screen went dark from lack of use. Clicking it on, Mikasa quickly went to her messages. Again, nothing had gotten past her and everything was the same as it was before.

Lighten up, she told herself. Annie has the doll. It's hardly something to think that the world is going to end over.

Still, she couldn't shake away the knot that had formed in her stomach. Ever since she had first heard from Sasha that Annie had taken the doll, her heart had been racing and mind searching for an explanation. What had Annie wanted with it anyway? Mikasa wouldn't have wished the thing on her worst enemies. She certainly hadn't seemed excited about having the thing, treating the doll the same way that she treated, well, just about everyone, with general disdain and a cold glare. The doll, however, needed more attention than most people around her probably did.

She knows that this is for a grade, Mikasa reminded herself. Her eyes hovered the newly formed contact that she had made for the other girl, complete with a picture. It was from an old photo, a picture that she, Eren, and Armin had all taken together during lunch. Rather than focusing on the trio, however, the picture showed Annie's blurry face that had been caught in the background. The blond wasn't even looking in the camera.

Still, how much did Annie care about her grade? Would she truly ignore her grade just to destroy a doll?

Mikasa, admittedly, had never been a saint. Though there were a few dolls and stuffed animals that she had loved dearly as a child, more than a few had ended up in the trash or microwave rather than the Goodwill bin. There had been something amazing about ripping the dolls apart just to hear the plastic crack or to see what happened when you put it in the microwave on high.

Unlike food, Mikasa had learned years before, Barbie dolls weren't cold in the middle once the microwave beeped.

But this wasn't just a simple ten dollar or less doll. This one was the miniature version of the robots that would eventually overthrow and enslave humanity, at least if the B-list sci-fi movies that Eren and Armin made her watch were correct. Those dolls had functioning sound boxes and made fake tears. It could even pretend to poop, though it thankfully did not actually release waste - that would have just been going too far.

Mikasa dropped her phone back down onto her bed and opened up her book again.

You'll get the doll back on Monday, Mikasa reminded herself. You can't let Annie and the doll steal your weekend from you. You've been waiting all week for this.

Still, as she read, her mind wondered back to the blond, the doll, and a whole list of worst case scenarios. There were so many ways that things could go wrong, that Mikasa's grade could go down the toilet.

Or, rather, into the microwave.

Mikasa shivered. If she got a bad report card then she might as well have slept on Armin or Sasha's couch for the next grading period of school before she dared to return home.

After finishing another chapter, Mikasa turned on her phone. Her eyes widened when she saw the alert for one new message.

When she checked the message, she saw pictures of a baby, and a happy plastic one at that. Her eyes widened and for a moment she smiled; the smile, however, quickly vanished when she recognized the doll.

Mikasa's doll looked like Mikasa, not Sasha.

Cute pic, Sasha! Mikasa texted.

With a sigh, she turned off her phone. When Sasha replied a few moments later, Mikasa didn't even bother to pick up the phone to see what the food addict had messaged her next.

* * *

When Mikasa got to school Monday, she didn't see Annie or the doll anywhere. Other than row after row of dead eyed, still half asleep students, there was nothing new or different to the school. Had there not even been the ridiculous project than Mikasa probably never would have noticed that Annie wasn't there at all.

She could just be late, Mikasa thought as she grabbed some books from her locker. Or hanging out by Reiner and Bertholdt's lockers.

If that were the case, then she was definitely out of luck. She didn't know where those lockers were, and it wasn't as if she had time to scour the school to look for them.

Mikasa sighed and shut her locker. What was she getting so worked up over anyway? If Annie wasn't around, then that meant Mikasa had some more time without having the baby on hand.

You should be happy, she told herself. Picking up her books, she turned and walked down the hallway. Armin waved to her from across the hallway, and she gave a weak wave back, using her other arm to hold her book to her chest.

Still, she couldn't help but search the hallways as she headed to her first period of the day.

* * *

"Sasha," Mikasa said, eyes wide, "what did you do?"

Mikasa stood at the doorway of the health classroom, her feet halfway in the room and halfway out. Part of her just wanted to step out into the hallway and simply stay there.

"Just passing out papers," Sasha replied, looking over at her from across the room. "And taping a few up so the other classes can see it. I heard that the second period kids are doing this too."

Papers, bright yellow and impossible to miss, were placed on every desk and stamped all over the room. Though Mikasa was a distance away from even the nearest of the yellow papers, she could still make out a few of the large, bold print words in all capitals.

One word said "BABY", which was never a good sign. Another was "HELP", which made Mikasa's stomach flip.

"Ms. Green said that you could do this right?" Mikasa finally stepped forward and walked to her desk, letting her arms relax once she placed all of her books down. Picking up a paper from the desk next to her, she looked down at the paper.

It was a flyer, a poorly made one that certainly wouldn't get Sasha into the school's small graphic design class any time soon. The letters were bold and gaudy, the yellow such a bright neon that it seemed to somehow have its own source of light.

"Oh, I emailed it to her and she was all for it." Sasha grinned. "She says that she's really glad that I'm beginning to take initiative on this project." Her smile widened. "She even told me that she would love it if some other people put this much effort into their project as I am."

"Sasha, I want an A," Mikasa said, holding the paper closer, "but I honestly don't think that I'll start a Mommy and Me Club for it."

"It's not that type of club," Sasha said. She paused. "Or, well, it sort of is. But it's not just for mommies. It could be a Mikasa and Me Club! Or a Daddy and Me Club! Or some other type of parent or legal guardian club."

"Is that supposed to make me want to join this?" Mikasa eyed the paper. She knew Sasha had her own stuff to deal with after school, but did she have to schedule this during lunch. Mikasa had things to do during that period!

"The snacks might," Sasha replied. She grinned. "I'm glad that we can have the club in the lunch room."

Mikasa had to keep herself from snorting. Of course Sasha would still have the club in the cafeteria; school project or not, nothing was keeping her from lunch.

A few other students began to filter into the room.

"Where's Ms. Green?" one asked before sitting down in their chair and grabbing Sasha's yellow paper.

"Oh, she said we're having a sub today," Sasha said. She was still busy taping up papers. Her baby sat on the floor, wrapped in Sasha's jacket and perched against her worn, faded grey backpack. "She had a doctors appointment today. At least that's what she emailed me last night."

Oh great, Mikasa thought, a sub.

Now that would really mean that they'd be paying attention to their babies. Subs never knew what to do, especially not in health classes. They mostly just let the kids in class do what they wanted, so long as they didn't raise hell or get any cops called.

Ugh, Mikasa thought.

The sub came in a few minutes afterwards, a blond whose hair was hidden behind circular, wide glasses and bright green eyes. They busily got to work calling attendance, repeating names a few times whenever someone came in late. It took him five minutes longer than usual to get attendance done.

Annie, Mikasa thought, peering around the room. Even before her eyes met her empty desk, she knew what she would see there. Nothing but a paper and a chair holding up air.

Where is she? Mikasa bit her lip.

A few moments later, once her brain kicked on and started to analyze what was around her again, she paused.

What am I thinking? Mikasa thought.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket. The sub began making her introduction, which Mikasa only half listened to. Pulling her phone from her pocket, she turned it on.

Four new messages? Mikasa thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head.

When she swiped her thumb on the phone's screen, she saw just who the message was from.

HOPE THIS THING DOESN'T GET SICK.

Scrolling up, Mikasa looked over the other messages, most of which had been sent right around when she was walking towards her next class.

GOT SICK THIS WEEKEND, A FEVER THAT STARTED LAST NIGHT AND DIDN'T LET GO UNTIL THIS MORNING. DAD IS BANNING ME FROM SCHOOL.

Below it was another message.

JUST THOUGHT I'D LET YOU KNOW.

And after that:

I'M SORRY I'M NOT AT SCHOOL TO HELP YOU TODAY.

For a moment, Mikasa could just stare at her phone. Annie was saying sorry? And did she actually sound worried about the doll?

A FEVER SUCKS was all that Mikasa replied with. It answered neither of Mikasa's earlier questions, but it was the only thing that her fingers could seem to type. STAY SAFE. I HOPE YOU FEEL BETTER.

A few moments later, another message appeared on Mikasa's screen.

THANKS. It was followed by a smiley face.

For the longest time, Mikasa waited for Annie to text her something else. It was only a while later, when Mikasa still looked at the texts, written in a much friendlier way than Annie spoke, that she finally turned it off.

She had studying to get to. This might as well have been a free period, one that she could finish a few worksheets on.

Though, in the middle of a math paper, she did pull her phone out again. She never knew until her phone screen lit up, after all, if a new message had arrived.


	6. Chapter 6

Long before Mikasa even got to school that day, she knew exactly of where her baby was. Only a few minutes before her mother came to wake her up, her phone vibrated, the noise tearing her away from the foggy dream her mind was stuck in.

"Uh," she mumbled, blinking a few times to try and wake herself up. It was the only movement she made for a while before she sat up, the fabric of her sheets moving as she did. When she picked up her phone, it quickly vibrated again, showing her a new message.

Who texts someone at six in the morning? Mikasa thought.

HEY, I'M SICK AGAIN TODAY AND WON'T BE AT SCHOOL.

Oh, Mikasa thought. Apparently Annie was that type of person.

SO DON'T BOTHER LOOKING FOR ME AT SCHOOL. MY DAD SAYS IF I'M OUT A DAY LONGER THAN HE'S TAKING ME TO THE DOCTOR.

Mikasa frowned, her fingers hovering above the screen for a few moments. When they finally began to type, they were slow, every word deliberate and every touch of her finger against the screen careful.

THAT SUCKS. I REALLY DO HOPE YOU FEEL BETTER, ANNIE, THX FOR LETTING ME KNOW.

Mikasa stared at her phone for a few moments after the text was sent, as if she expected Annie to reply at light speed. When no instant reply came, she began to mess around on her phone, opening various apps, everything from her email to some games.

A few minutes later, her door opened.

"Mikasa, it's time to-" Her mother stopped in mid-sentence. "It's nice to see you up early for a change." She smiled. "Breakfast is ready downstairs. I'm going to go wake up Eren."

Mikasa nodded and got up out of bed, dropping her phone into the pocket of her pajama pants.

* * *

Sasha, as much as Mikasa had hoped otherwise, hadn't been joking. The very next day, one the lunch bell rang, she ran out of the room with her doll in tow. By the time Mikasa made it to the cafeteria, Sasha already had taken over a table and converted it into a spot for her class.

"Glad to see that you've decided to come," Sasha said once Mikasa sat down. On the table were flyers and other pieces of paper, set down on the spot where each person would lay down their lunch tray. Mikasa moved her papers away before placing the sack lunch that she had packed down.

"Uh," Mikasa said, her eyes wondering over the papers, "maybe I should go."

Sasha's eyes widened. "But Mikasa, why would you think that?"

Why would I not? Mikasa thought.

Sasha was a great friend and all, but this project wasn't good for her. It was bringing out her maternal instinct or something; hopefully, it would vanish once they gave the dolls back to Ms. Green, but until then Mikasa didn't know how she would make it. Things were much better when Sasha just ate a bunch of food and made dirty jokes.

This? Now this was just plain weird.

"I think," Mikasa said, standing up and grabbing her lunch, "that I'll eat lunch with Eren and Armin today."

"There's no need to," Sasha replied in a flash, only moments after Mikasa had spoken. "Connie already texted me earlier that he and Armin would be coming by."

As if on queue, the two came up and placed their lunch trays down. Connie sat next to Sasha and Armin beside him, while Mikasa sat across from her. Connie was holding a baby doll in his hand, one that matched his brown skin and had matching colored eyes and looked nothing like Armin. Like Mikasa and Annie's doll, the doll only seemed to "inherit" the features of one parent.

"Hey guys," Sasha said, waving to the two with one hand, the other holding her doll. "I'm glad to see that you guys could come."

"Armin Jr. is excited about this," Connie said, waving the doll's arm.

Okay, the doll "inherited" Armin's name.

"Welcome to our first Mommy and Me, or rather Daddies and Me class." Sasha beamed. "We'll wait a few more minutes to see if anyone else shows up. If not, then we can just start without them."

Armin nodded. He grabbed his sandwich from his lunch tray and began to chew on it.

Mikasa had known Armin for years. Since when was he into children, let alone plastic ones? He was supposed to be the rational kid, the guy who made straight A's and everyone could understand why.

Around them, the cafeteria moved on as normal. People sat with their friends, rarely leaving their cliques. There was just no point in bothering trying to. If Sasha thought that she was going to break apart their high school's unspoken rules by having a class for babies, plastic ones no less, then she was fooling herself.

"Sasha," Mikasa said, reaching for her lunch once again.

"Hmm?" Sasha raised an eyebrow. Her mouth was stuffed with her sandwich, her cheeks sticking out. Mikasa had stopped her in mid-chew.

"It's just," Mikasa began, then paused. "Well, uh, you know..."

"Know what?" Sasha asked, cocking her head to the side and her eyes widening slightly.

Armin and Connie, like Sasha, all locked eyes on Mikasa.

"It's just, you know, Annie isn't here again today and my baby is at her house."

"Oh, I get that." Sasha smiled and then patted the chair beside her. "I guess that you can just help out with little Arthur Jr. and me today."

"I-"

Before Mikasa could protest further, a few other kids walked towards the table. Most looked to be in the second period class, and most didn't look as if they would have cared less about the dolls if they weren't tied directly to their grades.

"So," a girl, Hitch, said. She held a doll in one hand and her lunch tray in the other. "Is this where the Mommy and Me class or whatever is being held?"

Sasha's smile widened. "Oh, yes! Come and sit with us. I promise that this class will offer you everything that you need."

Before Mikasa could get up and move, whether to go to another table (though she doubted she could find one where she could sit), the kids sat down, trapping her in her spot and filling all the other seats.

Sasha beamed. "Oh, it's so wonderful that all of you could come here!" She clapped her hands together. "I just know that this is going to be a great experience for us all!"

"Can we just hurry up and take some pictures to show Ms. Green so that I can look like I like this thing?" Hitch glared down at the doll in her hand.

Well, Mikasa thought, at least one person still has some sense in them.

* * *

"I can't believe that I let you drag me into this," Mikasa said, turning to face Sasha.

"Oh, don't give me that look." Sasha rolled her eyes. She tightened her grip on the steering wheel. "You and I both know that this is a nice thing. Besides, when I called you and talked to you on the phone about it, you were all for it."

"I've had time to think about it since then." Mikasa sighed, looking down to the bowl in her hand. What was she even doing? A few weeks ago she probably wouldn't have even done this for close friends (probably because she couldn't actually cook).

"Look, I said that I'd drive and make the soup," Sasha said, hitting the gas pedal. For all the speed limits she broke (and in her father's car no less), she never seemed to get pulled over. "All you have to do is give Annie the soup. She'll really appreciate it."

Maybe she just invited me along, Mikasa thought, so I could stop her from trying to eat this.

"And how would you know? Are you some sort of mind reader? Did she call you and ask for some?"

Sasha shook her head, her ponytail flopping in the air and momentarily dancing along with the song playing on the radio. "No, but I've done this for friends who got sick before."

"Annie's your friend?"

"Well, she's yours too. 'A friend of a friend is a friend of mine' or whatever the saying is." She winked. "But I'm guessing that you and Annie are closer than I am with her."

"Annie and I work together."

"She works better with you on school projects than she ever did with me." Sasha paused for a moment. "Besides, she'll be happy to see that you care. Even if the soup is cold, if she's tired and still feeling groggy, at least she can go to the microwave knowing that someone cared about her so much that they brought her soup."

"Can't her parents bring her soup?"

"Her dad's working all day today, at least from what I hear. The guy is always busy."

"Her mom?"

"Mikasa, haven't you heard..."

Mikasa paused.

Oh, she thought. Perhaps I should have known.

"Her other dad then?"

Sasha's face was a mix of amusement and shock. Her hair seemed to stand on end, and her throat was held back as if she would start laughing at any moment. But she lurched forward, tightening her grip on the wheel instead. Slowly, her face returned to normal.

"Uh, it's not like that either. She, uh, doesn't talk about her situation too much. Most of it I learned second hand. She's uh, kind of, er, like Cinderella. Is that a good way to put it?"

"What?"

"You know, Cinderella, the princess with the shoes and the dancing mice-"

"I've seen the Disney movie, Sasha. No need to remind me of what I already know."

"Well, I would hope so." Sasha smirked. "I mean that kind of was what we watched on our movie night a couple months ago." She bit her lip. "But, uh, Annie... Her dad's single. Man, I probably should have just put it like that in the first place."

Mikasa sighed. "Eh, don't worry about it. I guess I should have guessed."

"Hey, not everyone knows everything. Don't let it get you down. Besides, if I were Annie, I wouldn't want to talk about it."

"But you are like Annie," Mikasa replied. She raised an eyebrow. "Or has your dad finally started to look for some middle aged women to keep him and you company?"

Sasha grimaced. "I think my dad would sooner marry my mom again than meet some other ladies. But right now he likes the single lifestyle. And the thing about Annie... I don't think her mom just got a divorce and moved across the country, keeping contact with you via Skype and Chanukah cards. I think she..."

"Oh," Mikasa replied. "Like Cinderella's mom."

"Yeah," Sasha replied, "like her. If one more parent were gone she'd go from Cinderella to Little Orphan Annie." Sasha gave a half chuckle. Mikasa couldn't even force half of that.

They were silent on the rest of the drive there. Sasha's baby sat in the back, piled on top of a pile of jackets and minding its own business. Other than the radio, the car was quiet. Sasha's eyes were now completely focused on the road. Though she didn't drop her speed too much, she did at least try to not make such sharp turns, the kind that sent Mikasa's heart racing and terrible images through her mind.

The Leonhardt household was smaller than she had expected. Looking to be just one story and on the edge of town, it was made of wood that looked to be almost as old as the tall tree that stood up front. The wood was a faded brown, the branches reaching up and touching the sky. It overshadowed the house, and probably had years before.

"Well, here we are," Sasha said, parking on the side of the road.

Mikasa opened her mouth to reply, but stopped herself. What could she say?

Mikasa waved to her, then picked up the bowl of soup, protected under a plastic storage container, and walked towards the house.

The rocky pavement leading towards it was grey and cracked.

Sasha's probably right, Mikasa thought. Annie shoudl really love this.

Still, a lump formed in her throat. Who would answer the door? What would she say? What if Annie thought this was weird?

Just do it, Mikasa thought. You can't just keep standing in front of her house holding a Tupperware of chicken soup. You'll definitely look like a weirdo then.

With as much strength as she could muster, she knocked on the door. For a few moments, Mikasa stood still, her ears close to the door, waiting.

No reply came, and the door never did open.

I could go, Mikasa thought.

Still, she brought her first towards the door again.

Knock, knock, knock.

This time, someone did open the door.

"Mikasa?" Annie stood dressed in a pair of faded blue pajama pants and a purple T-shirt with a drawing of a cat on it. There were dark circles under her eyes and her face was red and sweat covered.

"Annie," Mikasa replied, taking a step back. She bit her lip and quickly held out the plastic container of soup. "I, uh, thought you might want something to help you out. It's not medicine or anything, but I'm sure a doctor would approve of it. After, like, microwaving it of course. It's chicken soup, and pretty good too."

At least she hoped it was. For all the treats Sasha cooked up for her, Mikasa had never tried the girl's chicken soup.

Annie's eyes widened. "You came here just to give me soup?" Her voice was a little hoarse.

Mikasa felt her cheeks go red. "I, uh, yeah. Being sick sucks. I know because I've been sick before."

Annie smiled. "Thank you. And yeah, it really does suck." She reached out, for a moment her hands reaching towards the plastic container but then coming up around Mikasa's neck. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Mikasa nodded.

Annie's hug was quick and warm. "I'll be sure to enjoy it." She suddenly stepped away. "Oh shoot, my bad. I shouldn't have done that. It would be one thing if I weren't sick, but now... Mikasa, I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it," she replied. She could still smell Annie, her hair smelling like strawberries (as much as being sick sucked, it at least gave a person time to take a nice, cleansing shower). Her skin had been warm and soft, her grip on Mikasa firm yet not tight.

Annie took the plastic container from her. "I'll be sure to enjoy this."

"Make sure that it makes you feel better!"

Annie smiled. "Of course. As bad as things might look for me now, it was a whole lot worse yesterday."

* * *

That had to have been a dream. It was the only thing that made sense. Annie didn't act like that, not the Annie that she knew, sick or not.

But that didn't explain why she was suddenly feeling so hot and dizzy. Her stomach flipped in her chest.

"Who got you sick?" her mother asked, her eyes widening in concern as she removed her hand from Mikasa's forehead.

"I don't know," Mikasa replied.

And it was true. There was still a chance that someone else, someone who was infected and didn't even realize it, had passed it onto her. Mikasa passed hundreds of people a day, in school, while she was walking in public, in everywhere from a grocery to a shark.

For all she knew, she could have just gotten sick from accidentally brushing past someone. Annie had texted her that she thought it was that way.

SOME STRANGER, she had texted shortly after Mikasa had left. THEY PROBABLY DID IT, AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO THEY ARE. FIGURES. ALSO, THE SOUP ROCKS.

"You need to rest, Mikasa."

"Of course, Mom." she replied, her eyelids already heavy and beginning to flutter. "Whatever you say."


	7. Chapter 7

Perhaps Mikasa should have been concerned that her brother was spending his math period, a geometry class that he was just on the verge of failing were it not for Armin's help, texting her. On most days, she probably would. For one thing, she wouldn't be texting him back. Not because she was some fantastic student, the kind that teachers put on a pedestal, but because she was smart enough to know that any student seen with their cell phone would have it taken away by a teacher.

For first time offenders, phones were simply confiscated and put inside of a teacher's desk (though a few had gone so far as to bring in plastic boxes, decorated with brightly colored construction paper reading "The Phone Box", and put the phones inside there). Second (and third and fourth and any other countless number) time offenders had their phone sent to the office where a parent would have to pick it up after school (unless they were a senior who was lucky enough to be eighteen, and even then they still had to wait until the three-o-clock bell rang). Knowing her brother, he was at least a second time offendor, and she doubted that their mother would want to go pick his phone up.

Maybe he'll be smart and figure out how to hide it behind a textbook, Mikasa thought.

He had certainly been texting her for a while. His teacher was either having a long lecture over the wonders of triangles or he was just getting lucky. Either way, her brother's snarky comments were far more exciting than any of the day time television shows on TV. Sick or not, her thumb was getting a workout clicking the button on the remote to change channels.

I could read, Mikasa thought.

She had to force back a snort. She hadn't been to the library in a while, school or public, and the last time that she had been to a bookstore had been, what? One and a half, two, or three months before? Even if she wanted to read, it wasn't as if she actually had anything at home worth reading. And she wasn't about to go digging through her father's medical textbooks or her mother's romance novels either.

Mikasa turned on her phone. No new text from Eren; it had been two minutes since he had last texted her. Either he had finally run out of things to tell her or the teacher had finally confiscated his phone. Which was worse?

EREN? YOU OK? Mikasa texted.

Her phone needed to be charged. With twenty-six percent left, it wouldn't be long before it would stubbornly shut off and refuse to come on again until she plugged it in.

Mikasa groaned. Dropping her phone onto her stomach, she sat further up on the couch and grabbed the remote again. Maybe if she kept flipping through a few more channels than she would finally find something worth watching.

Maybe.

* * *

"Mikasa!"

Mikasa awoke with a start. Her phone fell from her stomach and clattered to the floor, as did the remote and one of her blankets. She blinked a few times, until at last the room around her made sense.

"Oh, hey, Mom," she said. She rubbed at her eyes. If her mother was home from work, then how long had Mikasa been asleep?

She reached down and grabbed her phone from the floor.

"I'm sorry to have startled you," she said. "I just got home from the grocery and found you asleep. I was going to ask if you wanted me to go to school and pick up some of your textbooks for you."

Mikasa nodded. "Thanks, that would be..." Before she could finish her sentence, she yawned. "Yeah, that would be great."

She nodded. "Are you feeling any better, sweetie?"

"I don't know." Mikasa's head throbbed and the inside of her throat felt as if it had been rubbed dry.

Her mother frowned. "I'm sorry sweetie." She walked further into the living room and placed a hand on Mikasa's forehead. "You still have a fever."

Mikasa sighed. "Great."

"I know being sick isn't fun." She patted Mikasa's shoulder. "Don't get too down about it, though."

Mikasa gave her mother a smile. That was her mother, always trying to look at the bright side.

"I'm making homemade chicken soup tonight, the kind with real chicken and not just the flavored broth."

Mikasa grinned. Maybe there was a bright side to this.

She turned on her phone. Juding by the number of texts that she had gotten from Eren, ones that she hadn't been awake to respond to, he hadn't gotten his phone confiscated.

"Let me text you my locker number and combination," Mikasa said. "I need my history textbook to study for a test. I brought some other stuff home yesterday that I can work on too."

Her mother nodded. "Of course, sweetie. I hope that you feel better. Want me to pick you up anything while I'm out? Some medicine, some other food?"

Mikasa shook hr head. "I don't know what else I need."

"Alright," she said. "Text me if you have any changes. I'd be glad to get you something. Being sick is awful."

"And here I thought that dad in the family," Mikasa replied.

Her mother chuckled. "Knowing him, he's probably already thinking of a serious diagnosis." She leaned down and kissed Mikasa's forehead. "Let's just hope that you feel better soon."

Once her mother left, Mikasa turned her phone back on. She supposed that she could text Eren, but his last text had been hours before when she was asleep. Besides, he was already home by then.

Her stomach rumbled, begging for food. Lunch time had long since passed and the dry toast that she had eaten for breakfast had probably been digested, at least judging by how loud it was.

"I'll get you food," Mikasa mumbled. Standing up, she slowly walked to the kitchen, pausing every few moments to relax her shaking legs.

Eren was in the kitchen, a chocolate chip cookie held to his mouth and a wad of papers in his other hand. He blinked at Mikasa a few times and then held the papers behind his back.

Mikasa raised an eyebrow. "School stuff Mom and Dad should know about?" Knowing Eren, it could be anything from a failed test to a legal form.

"Definitely not," Eren replied. "As if I want them signing me up for this field trip."

"Field trip?"

"It's for my biology class."

"Don't you want a chance to miss class?"

"It's not like we're going to a nature park, Mikasa. My teacher wants us to go to a nearby college a few weeks from now and listen to some big science hot shot do a lecture."

Whatever, Mikasa thought. Her stomach was too busy rumbling for her to worry about him.

"Your secret is safe with me. Just make sure they don't ever notice those forms."

Eren smiled. "Okay."

Mikasa rummaged through the kitchen cabinets. Most stuff she would eat on any normal day, but with the way her stomach was flipping she didn't want to risk seeing her chocolate chip cookies or Fruit Rollups on the floor. Finally, she grabbed some crackers. Those were supposed to help stomachs, right?

"So how was your school day?" Mikasa asked in between bites of her Ritz.

"Boring," Eren replied. "Nothing big happened while you were gone, if that's what you're wondering. I did see Annie carrying your doll around in the hall though."

"Yeah?"

"Huh?"

"The doll and Annie," Mikasa said. "What about them?"

"What do you mean? She was just carrying the doll and some books. Other kids who are doing the same assignment do it too." Eren bit into his cookie. "What's the big deal about that?"

Mikasa winced. Her brother really needed to stop talking with his mouth full. "Oh, nothing. I'm just curious. It's not like anything exciting happened to me today."

"It had to have been better than the day I had. Mine definitely wasn't exciting."

Mikasa snorted. "Come over here and let me pass a few germs along then."

Eren wrinkled his nose and took a step back, leaning his back against the kitchen counter.

To think, Mikasa thought, grabbing another cracker. I was actually worried about that doll for a moment.

She really must have gotten quite the bug.

* * *

At least there were finally some decent shows on TV. Mikasa didn't have to hurt her thumb as much as she flipped through the channels. There were a few interesting movies on along with some shows she liked; now all she had to do was figure out which were worth watching.

One of the movies she wanted to watch, something she had meant to catch in theaters a few years before but then never gotten around to, was in the middle and close to ending. The shows she wanted to watch were all airing reruns. She could only be on one channel at a time.

What incredible problems I have, Mikasa thought before finally stopping on one of the cartoon channels. Right then, watching animals violently attacking each other with various objects seemed like as good of a way to pass the time as any.

Just when it reached commercials, there was a loud knock on the door. Mikasa jumped slightly. The knocking came again, louder than before.

"Eren!" Mikasa yelled. "Go open the door!"

Her only reply was more frantic knocking.

"Eren!"

Great, Mikasa thought. He probably has his headphones in again with the music turned up way too loud.

With a heavy sigh and energy that she did not have, Mikasa somehow forced herself up off of the couch and too the door. Her father had probably forgotten his keys that morning and just wanted to get inside. Some kid could be selling stuff door to door for their club. Someone could be trying to convert Mikasa to some religion or the other (if it was that case then she would open the door and then just as quickly closing it once again).

The people at the door, however, were far from any of those. Unless Sasha was trying to get Mikasa to convert to the religion of food, then she was safe. She doubted Annie was going to earn Girl Scouts badges from selling whatever was in her plastic Tupperware container either. In her other hand was the doll, which was held closely to her chest; unless Annie was trying to breastfeed it while still keeping her shirt on, then Mikasa was pretty sure that she was trying to crush their child with her boob.

"Hi, Mikasa!" Sasha reached forward, her arms held out.

Mikasa stepped back. "What are you two doing here?"

Annie looked over to Sasha. "I wouldn't touch her right now if I were you, Sasha. I don't think either of us will be able to make chicken soup for you."

Sasha pouted.

Annie turned back towards Mikasa. "We're just returning the favor," Annie said. "I heard that you weren't feeling well today and didn't see you at school."

Sasha, still frowning, looked over to Mikasa. "I'm sorry that you're sick."

"it's fine," Mikasa said. She took the plastic container from Annie's hand. It seemed like she would be living off chicken soup for quite some time. "I'll get over it."

"Yeah, I managed to." Annie paused. "So, how bad is it?"

"Just a fever," Mikasa said. "It wouldn't be so bad if I weren't so cold and wasn't so tired. You would think that having a fever would mean that I was on fire, but instead I have to stuff myself under piles of blankets."

Sasha's frown deepened. "Oh, Mikasa, that's terrible! You really do need this chicken soup to help make you feel better."

"Let's hope that it works," Mikasa replied.

"If you need any help with homework, I can try and help." Sasha sighed. "Oh, Mikasa, I really do hope that you feel better. I was hoping that you wouldn't be doing so terribly, but you look terrible. I'm glad that Annie said we should come here."

Mikasa held a hand to her face. "How bad do I look?"

"Well," Annie said, looking to the ground. "You aren't about to win any awards, Mikasa. Your hair is a mess and your eyes look pretty dim, if that makes any sense. Uh, no offense. I guess you just look tired. Is that the right word?"

"Yeah, I think so." Sasha added. "And your skin is sort of red too, which I'm guessing is just another part of the fever. If it's as bad as it looks, then it really must be terrible. I hope that you feel better, Mikasa."

"Thank you," she said, looking to Sasha. "You too, Annie."

Annie looked to the ground, her cheeks coloring slightly. "Hey, it was Sasha who made the soup."

"Thank you anyway."

Annie looked back up, her eyes wider than before. "I, uh, hope that I wasn't the one who got you sick. If I did, then I'm really sorry."

"Maybe you did." Mikasa shrugged. "Or maybe not. You know how it is at school; the place might as well be declared a germ farm."

Annie chuckled. "Yeah, it definitely is. That's probably how I got sick in the first place."

Mikasa yawned.

"We should get going," Sasha said, pulling her keys from her pocket. "I hope we can see you back at school again sometime soon, Mikasa. Hurry up and feel better, okay?"

Mikasa nodded.

Annie gave a small wave before readjusting the doll in her arms.

* * *

She would never admit it to her mother, but Sasha's chicken soup was the best in the world, even without the pieces of chicken floating in it. It was certainly a fantastic breakfast, especially when Mikasa didn't feel like warming up or making anything else.

Picking up her phone, she sent her third message of the morning to Eren.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING BRO?

Unless he had magically gotten tired of checking his phone, then he had finally gotten his phone taken away by a teacher.

At least she had other people to text.

WHAT'S UP SASHA? YOUR SOUP IS GREAT.

She ate another spoonful of it.

Picking up her phone, she sent another message.

ANYTHING COOL GOING ON WITH YOU, ANNIE?

It was a heavy question mark kind of day.

* * *

**I want to again thank everyone who has read, favorited, followed the story, and left reviews. They really mean so much to me and I am very thankful for all of you readers. I'm glad that you all can enjoy this story.**


	8. Chapter 8

There were some things that just could not be expressed merely through texts. No amount of emojis in the world could quite capture what Sasha's face had looked like during class, nor could it ever begin to capture the pose that Ms. Green had made while holding one of the dolls. Mikasa couldn't tell whether she looked as if she were going to fall over or was just slouching; no matter what she was doing, the ugly baby, which was held up to where it covered her face, looked as though it weighed one thousand pounds in her hands.

Mikasa continued to click through the files sent to her. How much time had Annie spent taking pictures in class? If the file sizes said anything (and it was far too big for the stuff to merely be texted) then it had really, really been a boring class.

Mikasa nearly jumped out of her chair. The sound of her cell phone vibrating against the table filled her small room, and she quickly picked it up. It vibrated in her palm, the numbers and name on the screen shaking slightly.

The only text, the only other form of communication that she had gotten from the blond that day being the email, that she had sent a few minutes earlier had simply said to check her email.

Mikasa moved her finger over her phone's screen.

Call accepted.

"Hey, Ann-"

"Did you get it?" Annie asked, cutting her off before she could even finish. Around her was heavy chattering and the sound of footsteps. Judging by the occasional bangs around her, she was in the hallway.

"Huh?"

"Did you get it, my email?"

"Well hi to you too." Mikasa snorted. "Yeah, I got it."

"Did Sasha text you what happened today?"

"No." Mikasa leaned against her bed stand. She sniffled, reaching a hand out towards a box of tissues that had gotten turned over on her bed. "What's so special about it?"

Annie chuckled. "I thought Sasha would have spilled everything by now. Let's just say that it was a very weird day." She paused for a moment. "Well, let's just say that this is partially her dad's fault. Not only has Sasha got her dad wrapped around her little finger, but she managed to get him clutching at the doll too."

"I know she has her dad take pictures with it."

"It's more than just pictures. The guy treats it like it really is his grandchild." She could hear the grin in Annie's voice. "And get this - even Ms. Green is creeped out."

"Seriously?" Knowing her, she was the only teacher who could probably get excited for this kind of project in the first place.

"You wouldn't believe it." Annie laughed. "I never expected it. Still, it's actually making health class a little exciting; maybe Ms. Green really is trying to keep us from going to sleep."

Mikasa pulled her blankets around herself tighter. Though her temperature had risen to over one hundred degrees, she would likely need to get up and grab some more blankets soon. Already, a large pile lay messily piled one atop the other on her bed and strewn across the floor.

Despite herself, she frowned. It was hard to believe that she could actually miss school.

* * *

Just as Mikasa opened her locker, her phone jolted in her pocket. She tensed, for a few moments staring at the inside of her locker. After her phone vibrated two more times, she finally pulled it from her pocket.

IT HAS GONE FULL CIRCLE.

Below her text was perhaps Sasha's worst selfie. There was just no way to sugar coat how bad she looked, with her half closed eyes and skin bordering on the edge of green.

I BLAME YOU AND ANNIE FOR THIS!

YOU GUYS OWE ME CHICKEN SOUP FOR GETTING ME SICK!

Neither of her other two texts had pictures or emojis attached to them. For Sasha, that was pretty plain, even with the excessive exclamation points.

We never got that sick, Mikasa thought.

Even while she'd been stuck at home, she hadn't looked that bad. Non-prescription pills, stuff that her mom had picked up at CVS, had been enough to help her get better.

For a few moments, Mikasa's fingers hovered above the screen of her phone, never quite reaching the keyboard.

I'M SO SORRY, SASHA.

It certainly seemed better than pointing out just how bad Sasha looked; surely her friend felt even worse than she looked.

THAT'S REALLY AWFUL.

Mikasa added the last part quickly before turning her phone off and shoving it in her locker. Sick friend or not, she still had to get to class. Grabbing her books, she quickly faded into the crowds of students wondering among the hallway. Though she had been gone for a bit, school itself seemed to have not changed. Everything went on like normal, the discussions and school gossip changing slightly, but for the most part staying the same.

Mikasa doubted that her schoolwork would be that way. Though she had done a little while sick, there was stuff that she would have to get from teachers.

She gritted her teeth. As much as being sick had sucked, back breaking amounts of homework would probably have to be carried home that night.

Mikasa froze in the middle of the hallway, one thought hanging in her mind.

Of course it has to be a track night.

Though the vibrations from her phone ran up her leg, she didn't check her phone until about ten minutes later. While her teacher looked away, she quickly pulled it from her pocket.

Twelve texts? Mikasa widened her eyes. As bad as everything else seemed, Sasha's fingers were probably fine.

YOU SHOULD BE SORRY, MIKASA! YOU AND ANNIE ARE THE ONES THAT GOT ME SICK.

YOU TWO ARE TOTAL BUTT FACES.

Mikasa had to keep herself from snorting. Being sick certainly hadn't improved Sasha's vocabulary of insults.

HOW DO YOU KNOW I GOT YOU SICK? NEITHER ANNIE OR I EVER GOT THAT BAD.

Mikasa had scrolled past the other texts. Most seemed to be saying the same thing over and over again, at least if what Mikasa saw while flicking her finger down meant anything.

WHO ELSE WAS SICK?

Sasha's reply came in seconds.

MAYBE YOUR DAD GOT IT FROM SOMEONE AT HIS WORK.

Mikasa paused for a moment, her finger just millimeters from her phone's touch screen keyboard.

CONNIE PROBABLY HAS FLEAS. I BLAME HIM!

NOT FUNNY, MIKA! :(

"Class," the teacher suddenly spoke.

Quickly, Mikasa began typing once again.

DON'T WANT TO GET CAUGHT BY TEACHER. TEXT YOU AFTER CLASS.

Then, even faster than before, she began typing again.

SORRY.

If Sasha was right, then Mikasa had a lot to be sorry for.

* * *

"Okay, class," Ms. Green said, clapping her hands together. Mikasa's eyes wondered away from her and her now folded hands and towards the dry erase board. On it were various doodles made by the class from the period before. In between erasable graffiti and just about every variation of "X was here" were drawings. More than a few, she noticed, involved babies.

The doll sat awkwardly in her lap. Annie had been beaming when she had handed it over.

"I'm sorry I couldn't figure out how to shut off the crying," she had said earlier just after class had started. "I wanted to give it back to you headache free."

As the teacher spoke, a doll across the classroom suddenly began to weep, its cries filling the room. Either the doll had a microphone built into it or it was the loudest baby in the world, as she was sure the entire school could hear it. Its cries echoed across the wall.

Mikasa began to firmly pat her doll.

Don't even think about shedding a tear now, Mikasa thought.

If nothing else, she could always put the doll in her closet that night.

More than a few students covered their ears, while others stuck their earbuds even deeper into their ears.

Why was this a good idea for an assignment again? Mikasa thought.

At this point, it wouldn't have surprised her if her teacher admitted to wanting to try and convince the class to go childless in the future.

Maybe this is supposed to teach people about why to use a condom, she thought.

"Excuse me," Ms. Green said, her voice somehow rising above the doll without her having to scream. "Could you please take your darling out? They're disturbing the rest of us."

A student got up, though Mikasa never bothered to see who it was. Even when the door clicked shut behind them, the unholy howling could still be plainly heard.

"Today I'm going to try and add a little challenge to our assignment," Ms. Green said. Though her eyes still had their familiar spark, her smile from earlier had faded into a slight frown. "By now all of you know just how big of a responsibility being a parent is. I wouldn't give you those dolls if I didn't think that you would learn something."

Like what? Mikasa thought. Her own frown was heavy set, leaning down so much that it almost looked as if it would fall off of her face. Why we should stop overpopulation? Take the pill? Learn how to read a baby food label?

"As you all know, certain students are single parents."

Even though she was gone, eyes turned towards Sasha's desk.

"I want you all to know that being a single parent is tough, and not just the sunshine and rainbows that Sasha made it seem in her miniature project a few days ago."

So that's what I missed, Mikasa thought. Knowing Sasha, she had probably peppered a few Yiddish swears in to see if she could get it past the teacher (which, more likely than not, she most definitely could).

"Some of you will even be becoming single parents." Ms. Green's voice lowered. "Class, we're going to start dealing with spouse difficulties; this is supposed to simulate the struggle of getting divorced."

The class turned silent for a moment, all eyes on the teacher and blank board at the front of the room. Walking over to the board, her eyes still on the class, Ms. Green grabbed a dry erase marker and began to write on the board.

"Ms. Green," Hannah called, raising her hand only after she had spoken.

"Yes?" the teacher asked, turning her head back to face them.

"Why are we doing this?" She frowned. "How does this teach us about dealing with babies?"

"How does it not?" Her reply was out the moment that Hannah had finished speaking. "When married couples have problems, children often come in between that." She paused, her brows lowering for a moment. She bit her lip, and for a moment gave the class a hard stare. "Well, I guess a personal example would help to explain it. When I was a teenager, both my mother and I were growing distant from my father. No one was surprised when they got a divorce. It was hard, but at least we were prepared enough to handle it. That's why I go by my mother's last name rather than my father's. I'm not Ms. Ral."

Annie raised her hand.

Mikasa looked over to her, raising an eyebrow.

Annie just smirked.

"Yes, Annie?"

"Ms. Green," Annie said, gesturing towards her and Mikasa's shared doll, "I know that divorce effects many couples. My parents themselves dealt with it a few years back. However, that comes with some heavy stuff. What will poor little Junior change their last name to? It's already so long - Ackerman-Yaeger-Leonhardt. I think there might even be a bit of their aunt Braus's blood in them, and that just adds another name to this convulated family tree. And what about the company that produced our little bundle of joy? Do we include part numbers too?"

Mikasa smiled, holding back a laugh. Others in the class weren't doing it quite as well.

Ms. Green's gaze hardened. "I never said everyone was getting divorced, just a select few to vary up the assignment." She folded her hands together. "But since you and Ms.-" she paused again, her eyes locking on Mikasa's "-Ackerman-Yaeger-Leonhardt seem so worried about last names, then you two can just stay together and work out your differences. I would suggest marriage counseling if things really get desperate."

Jean and a few other boys looked ready to start bursting out with laughter, but Annie's icy stare stopped them from releasing more than a few giggles.

"As I said," Ms. Green continued, "this is just supposed to help with the project. It'll give you a feel for what some of you might have a future."

Great, Mikasa thought. Not only was this probably going to make most of the class go childless, but now they would all probably end up as eternal bachelors and bachelor-ettes, at most having one night stands or relationships without the ring.

Well, Mikasa thought, looking down to her health notebook, it was at least better than those tacky plastic promise rings they had all been given and forced to wear in the seventh grade.


	9. Chapter 9

Sasha was the only person that Mikasa knew that would actually be sad about missing school. Okay, Armin would, but probably not because he had missed out on getting to go to health class and babysit robotic dolls.

Then again, she was also the only person Mikasa knew that could get excited about going to the grocery store. When she'd learned that Mikasa's mother had to stay late at work and needed her to get groceries (because Eren would sooner have them starve then do it after he finished basketball practice), she had promptly invited herself along.

"So who got divorced?" Sasha asked, eyes wide. She spoke as if she were asking of the school's latest gossip to be spilled. The basket around her shoulder already looked nearly full, even when she'd said that she wasn't going to buy much, and was filled with everything from candy to fresh tomatoes. Her eyes moved from Mikasa to the various rows of cereal boxes.

In her arms were the two dolls, Mikasa's and Sasha's. Though Mikasa had insisted on leaving them in the car (what did they know, anyway? They were robots, and not even the smart ones at that were going to one day try to take over the world), but Sasha had all but begged to bring the dolls inside. Ms. Green would have been proud of her maternal instinct.

"Oh, just a couple people," Mikasa replied. "It really wasn't that bad, and most people seemed relieved to separate anyway."

"Aww, and here I was thinking you that you and Annie liked each other."

Mikasa's face turned as red as the Twizzlers that Sasha had bought. "We-" she paused - "we, uh, didn't divorce."

Sasha beamed. "Good."

Mikasa averted her eyes from the other girl and looked back to the cereal. Most of the time, she could have cared less about it and just grabbed whatever. In the mornings, before her taste buds really turned on, she would eat just about anything, and she never cared if her brother complained about what she or her mother had picked up.

"It's just cereal," Mikasa would always tell him.

It really was, but it was also the only thing keeping Sasha from asking her a million questions. In fact, the brunette seemed more entranced by the food than Mikasa ever could be, faking or not.

After a long pause, she finally grabbed some Frosted Flakes. After dropping them in the cart, she began to push it forward.

"Is it okay if I put one of these little guys in the cart's seat? My arms are kind of tired."

Mikasa rolled her eyes, stopping the cart. "Whatever, just don't be mad if I have to put some food up there next to it."

Sasha placed Mikasa's doll inside and strapped it in with care.

"So what else do you need?" Sasha asked.

Mikasa pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked the grocery list that her mother had sent her. "I need to grab some meat and ice cream."

Sasha licked her lips. "Your mom has a wonderful taste in food."

Despite herself, Mikasa giggled. "What do you say we try some of that ice cream out later before Eren steals it all?"

Sasha grinned. "I wouldn't miss it."

The two walked through the baked goods section, Mikasa doing her best to avoid looking at the shelves.

Mom's only going to pay you back for what she put on the list, Mikasa thought.

Considering the state of her sneakers, new shoes for track were way more important than chocolate chip cookies.

Sasha didn't avoid temptation quite as well.

"Share one of those with me in the car?" Mikasa asked, looking down to the package of snicker-doodles in Sasha's shopping basket.

Sasha nodded.

The meat aisle had a few people in it already, so Mikasa stood to the side, looking over the stuff in her cart. Part of her wanted to grab some food and cover the doll; the last thing she needed was to looked at like a weirdo in the middle of the grocery store.

Once the space around the meat section was clear, Mikasa walked over and grabbed a package of bacon. As soon as she grabbed it, Sasha quickly grabbed another and placed it in Mikasa's cart.

"We don't need extra," Mikasa said, reaching out to grab it from the cart.

"No, keep it," Sasha said. Her eyes widened. "You know, in case you have any house guests."

Mikasa raised an eyebrow. "I thought that you weren't allowed to eat bacon."

"Or shrimp, cheeseburgers, pork chops, or lobster," Sasha replied. "But it'd be at your house, so how would my dad know?" She gave a cheeky grin.

Mikasa rolled her eyes. Oh yes, Sasha truly was the poster child for teenage rebellion.

The two left the meat section and headed towards the other parts of the frozen food aisle. Her mother had never specified just what ice cream she had to buy, and possibilities ran through her mind. There was chocolate, rocky road, strawberry. Or she could get ice cream sandwiches, maybe even the big pack that had like thirty in one box. Not even Eren could manage to steal that many at one time. Or there were popsicles, cool and fruity.

Mikasa's stomach rumbled. It really was a bad idea to go grocery shopping after school without even eating a tiny snack first.

"Hey, Mika, do you think that we need to pick up some baby food? What if our babies get hungry?"

Mikasa sighed. "Sasha, I don't think these things can actually eat."

Then again, it would be nice to try. Maybe if some mushy baby food goop got inside the doll, then it would mess up its parts and the ugly thing would break.

Still, it wasn't worth spending four bucks on a jar of mushy peaches to find out.

* * *

Though each day that passed brought the class one day closer to the end of the assignment, it also was another where Ms. Green seemed to try and make it more exciting (though if everyone in the class, save Sasha, were honest then it already wasn't).

"This is just plain turning into torture," Mikasa said as she counted out funny money taken straight from a Monopoly game.

"Someone should take Ms. Green to the Supreme Court and have Ms. Green tried for breaking the Eighth Amendment," Ymir added. She snickered.

"That isn't exactly how it would work," Annie replied.

The small group, Sasha, Mikasa, Ymir, Annie, and Krista, all sat around a bunch of desks moved together and counted out the fake cash. Ms. Green had distributed it at the beginning of class after attendance, a mere five minutes before, and explained that one problem with raising a kids was financing.

"What is she now," Krista asked, "our econ teacher?"

"Hey, don't insult Mr. Zaccharius, he actually manages to make the class somewhat fun." Mikasa said.

"I'm just scared of losing this," Sasha said. "It's not like I, or any of you guys, have any use for fake cash."

"Maybe we can see if someone actually accepts it somewhere," Ymir said. She smirked.

"As if," Krista replied.

How is this a productive class project? Mikasa thought. It's already making one of the students thinking about becoming an illegal counterfeiter.

Krista sighed. "You know, Ymir, maybe this could actually have some value. That's the thing about money - most of it, at least today's money, has value because the government says it does. You can't exchange it for silver like you used to be able to, and you don't have to have a bunch of gold either. The money just has value because its given it. If enough value is placed on this stuff, then people will want it."

Looks like someone got an A in econ, Mikasa thought.

"Krista knows how money works," Ymir replied, giving the smaller girl a playful jab with her elbow.

"A true economist," Sasha said.

"More like future mob boss." Ymir chuckled.

"I didn't know that Krista was interested," Mikasa said, "in subverting Ms. Green's authority and starting her own illegal supply and distribution of funny money."

Krista giggled. "Well, I did mention giving it value."

Ymir wrapped an arm around the small blond's shoulders, and used her free hand to count all the rest of her fake cash.

It was only a good twenty minutes later when Ms. Green finally spoke again. Her voice echoed through the room, loud where it had once been moderate chattering among small groups.

"Now, I'm sure that you're all wondering just what we are actually doing for this project."

"Wasting another day of my already meaningless life," Annie whispered.

Mikasa had to force back a laugh. She quickly looked down to the doll in her arms.

"Well, next class I'm going to be bringing in some items that you can spend the money on. However, you have to be careful with this money. You can't just waste it all on candy."

A hand, Sasha's, shot in the air.

"Yes sir?" Ms. Green asked.

"There's going to be candy?" Her eyes were wide.

"Well, yes, that's some of the stuff that I'm going to be bringing in. There will be other stuff as well, small stuff but stuff that could help with your baby. You can buy both stuff for your child and candy for yourself, or just one thing, but you have to make sure your baby is healthy and that all bills are paid." She sighed. "Oh, bills, the bane of an adult's existence."

She paused for a moment, as if waiting for another person to raise their hand.

"Yes, there will be bills to deal with. Electricity and rent, water and heating, car and credit card payments." She shook her head. "I'd hardly call it fun, but it will be a realistic look at everything that you all will be paying for when you're older. Though, considering the limited amount of money you all have and the fact that I don't want you all to go bankrupt so soon means that bills will be slightly lower here." Her eyes sparkled, a smile crossing her lips. "And hey, maybe you'll get a chance to earn some more money."

* * *

Krista passed the brightly colored cash from one person to the next. Mikasa looked over hers, categorizing it by color. She leaned against her locker, observing the funny money with still slightly heavy eyes. She yawned.

"It's a good thing that my dad loves Monopoly and has all those old boards around." Krista said. "Just make sure to try and bring that cash back to me if you can." She shrugged. "Still, if you can't, I'll claim that it got lost or something."

"Your dad shouldn't have to play this game." Ymir said, looking over the stack of fake cash in her hands. "Doesn't he already live it? I've been to your big and fancy house and that guy probably only can see in shades of green."

Krista blushed. "So, uh," she continued, "does everyone have an equal amount? You know, so everyone can be on the same level?"

Annie looked over to her, then handed the cash over to her.

"You can balance the bills in our house, honey." She smirked.

Mikasa rolled her eyes, then deposited the stack of cash inside of her health folder.

"Actually," Sasha said, "Krista, you and Ymir are a little short on me."

Ymir raised an eyebrow. "What color do you need?"

Sasha's eyes gleamed. "You know the color."

The two both began to dig around, Ymir in her pockets and Krista in her purse before both pulled out two ten dollar bills.

"This is for this week and next week," Krista said. "Ymir and I agreed that we'd pay you for next week in advance."

"Thank you," Sasha said, leaning forward and taking the money from them.

Annie's eyes were wide and Mikasa's eyebrow was arched.

"Hey," Sasha said after she had deposited the money into her (rather thin) wallet, "you guys weren't here as early as they were, so you didn't notice me give their baby back. I'm a babysitter for hire. Besides, my little one needs a playmate at night."

Annie just blinked.

"Hey," Sasha said with a shrug. "It's all about value, like Krista said before. And I value getting stocked up on candy after school; they're having a sale at the grocery on West Street after school today."

Getting candy and fake and real cash at the same time, Mikasa thought. How has she managed to rig the system so well?

Before Mikasa could ask the brunette, the first bell before school began rang. Bleary eyed and tired students rushed towards their lockers, and the small group broke apart as each girl headed towards her own respective first class of the morning.


End file.
